Cooper W Rodney, Spurgeon Dale W
Current address: USDA-ARS-Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory 5230 Konnowac Pass Rd, Wapato, WA 98951.
Current address: USDA-ARS Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa, AZ 85138.
Environ Entomol. 2015 Jun;44(3):808-13. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvv015. Epub 2015 Mar 22.
The western tarnished plant bug, Lygus hesperus Knight (Hemiptera: Miridae), is a key pest of many horticultural and agronomic crops in the western United States. Despite its well documented pest status, many aspects of the basic biology, including overwintering ecology, of L. hesperus are poorly understood. We examined the influence of eight constant temperatures from 10 to 35°C on survival of nondiapausing adult L. hesperus held with or without food, and the consequences of exposure to an extended period at 10°C on subsequent reproduction. Survival analyses indicated that, on average, fed insects tended to live longer than unfed insects, females lived longer than males, and the survival time decreased with increasing temperature. Nonlinear regressions indicated that median survival for insects grouped by gender and feeding status declined exponentially with increasing temperature. Survival functions for combinations of insect class (gender and feeding status) and temperature were adequately described by the respective two-parameter logistic functions. When adults were held for 9 d at 27°C with food after a 33-d period at 10°C either with or without food, no deleterious effects of prior starvation on propensity to mate or fecundity were demonstrated. These findings indicate that when temperatures are low, nondiapausing L. hesperus adults are capable of extended host-free survival with little or no impact on subsequent reproduction. Our findings suggest the current understanding of L. hesperus overwintering dynamics is incomplete. In addition, our results provide quantitative baseline information to facilitate more comprehensive investigation of the ecology of L. hesperus overwintering.
西方牧草盲蝽，即西方牧草盲蝽（Lygus hesperus Knight，半翅目：盲蝽科），是美国西部许多园艺和农作物的主要害虫。尽管其害虫地位已有充分记录，但西方牧草盲蝽的许多基本生物学特性，包括越冬生态学，仍知之甚少。我们研究了10至35°C的八个恒定温度对有无食物情况下非滞育成年西方牧草盲蝽存活的影响，以及在10°C下长时间暴露对后续繁殖的影响。生存分析表明，平均而言，取食的昆虫往往比未取食的昆虫寿命更长，雌性比雄性寿命更长，且存活时间随温度升高而缩短。非线性回归表明，按性别和取食状态分组的昆虫的中位存活时间随温度升高呈指数下降。昆虫类别（性别和取食状态）与温度组合的生存函数可用各自的双参数逻辑函数充分描述。当成虫在10°C下有或无食物的情况下经过33天，然后在27°C下有食物的情况下饲养9天时，未发现先前饥饿对交配倾向或繁殖力有有害影响。这些发现表明，当温度较低时，非滞育的西方牧草盲蝽成虫能够在无寄主的情况下长时间存活，对后续繁殖几乎没有影响。我们的研究结果表明，目前对西方牧草盲蝽越冬动态的理解并不完整。此外，我们的结果提供了定量的基线信息，以促进对西方牧草盲蝽越冬生态学进行更全面的研究。
